Apple iSlate Name Good or Bad

By admin on Jan 23, 2010 in best names, brand naming, controversial names, naming linguistic issues, product names, trademarks

Apple iSlate Tablet PC

Apple Tablet PC

As the January 27th announcement of Apple’s new tablet PC fast approaches, many have speculated on its name.  While the inside favorite seems to be the iSlate, others are offering up alternatives like the iTablet, the iPad, etc.  Regardless of what is announced on the 27th, here are some of our thoughts regarding the iSlate name, both the good and the bad:

THE GOOD:

  • It does continue to leverage Apple’s branding around the “i-” names (iPhone, iPod, iMac…)
  • It relates well to the physical appearance of the PC while also distinguishing it from the many other tablet PCs on the market
  • Slate is a “cooler” word than Tablet or Pad … especially if the actual product is thin and slate-like in appearance
  • It is controversial which, in this case, is a very good thing.  Just the amount of discussion and blogging on the name has raised the awareness and interest in the product launch tremendously
  • It is easy to say, spell and remember

THE BAD

  • It may not be registrable as a trademark.  While Apple was able to register iPhone in spite of Cisco’s and Teltronics’ pre-existing trademark rights in the name, the same may not be true of iSlate.  There is already a company, Slate Computing, using ISLATE for computers and a whole lot more, with pending trademark registrations in the U.S. and Canada.  There is also an application for the iPhone called iSlate, and Fujitsu reportedly has some IP protection around SLATE.
  • It may not be as distinctive or differentiating as needed for building a strong brand.  ESLATE is already used for for a computer voting system.  INFOSLATE in a registered trademark for a mobile computer. NETSLATE is a pending trademark for a tablet PC and the list goes on and on.
  • It has some off-color and inappropriate slang meanings.
  • The domain name may be expensive. A quick check on Network Solutions shows that just about every top level domain starting with iSlate is already registered.  Good luck buying the dot-com, dot-net, dot-org, etc. rights in the name for a less than six figures.

However, Apple has consistently proven itself to be very savvy when it comes to brand building. We certainly wouldn’t bet against their ability to build strong brand identity around their new tablet PC, regardless of what it is called.

Post a Comment

  • HealthYes!

    Video Testimonial - Part 1 | 2

  • Snapio

    Video Testimonial - Part 1 | 2

  • Raving Fans

  • Thanks so much for all your expert advice and professional project management throughout this endeavor. This has been one of the most satisfying engagements with a vendor that I have experienced over the years, which speaks to the high quality and thoughtful output of your efforts. I especially appreciated your flexibility and patience as the project took on new challenges which impacted the scope of work. You can be certain that as our business grows, NameStormers will be top-of-mind for future work.
    Will Jarred - Executive Director of Sales & Marketing - ETS - Educational Testing Service

  • ________________

  • I must underscore what an absolute pleasure it was to work with you during this entire project. Your methodical, timely, and resourceful approach to educating me on how a new name affects a company, and the steps you so painstaking address to make the transition a seamless one, were outstanding. Each time I needed to contact you to get direction or clarification, you responded with immediate and informative action. You are the consummate professional and a real pleasure to work with.
    Dorian Stern - Director of Marketing, Logicare

  • ________________

  • Thank you for your excellent work, great customer service, and fast turnaround. I'd be happy to provide references for you. We decided on Alliant as a good tie to the corporate name: Virginia Mason-Group Health Alliance, Inc. And we've got two Alliant Health Plans, Plus which is a point of service plan, and Select for the HMO.
    Paula Heath - Director of Advertising & Sales Promotion - Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound

  • ________________

  • I want to thank you very much for your team's effort on this project. You all worked very quickly and gave us excellent direction. I am sure many hours were spent in developing the many name lists you presented us. Your added value enabled us to move forward with a name consumers preferred over the prior internal name. I look forward to working with your company in the future!
    Brand Category Manager - A Major Global Tire Company

  • ________________

  • Mike, Thanks for the quick turn around time. I appreciate all you have done to help us with name, logo and tagline. Some great work!
    Rob Greenbaum - Senior Vice President - Marketing - Nationstar, formerly Centex Home Equity

  • ________________

  • We have filed six trademarks to date which were created by The NameStormers. As is, six global trademarks in one year is unprecedented for any agency we have contacted. On several projects, you triumphed where other agencies had failed us. The process is simple, fast and yields wonderful results.
    Tracey K. Higgins - Director, Trademark Development - Worldwide Human Health Marketing, MERCK & Co., Inc.

  • ________________

  • I wanted to thank you and the NameStorming team for your great effort in helping me find a name for the company and our first product...starting a new business is quite a sizeable undertaking so knowing a competent team was tending to the name issues was a relief. We love the (company) name. We are also going to use the product name Acquis for a family of internet-and-otherwise commerce software packages. It really was a pleasure working with you. I look forward to NameStorming in the future.
    Tom Dowdell - Senior Software Developer - Intuitive Edge